NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Exclusive CBS 2 video Friday documented a high-speed chase along some of the busiest highways in central New Jersey, as a suspected bank robber zoomed off on Routes 1 & 9 with police in hot pursuit.

Police in Edison were alerted at 10:36 a.m. to a robbery at the Investors Savings Bank on Amboy Avenue. Officers followed the suspect in a green minivan on Woodbridge Avenue, and he led them onto the New Jersey Turnpike and off again at Exit 13 in Elizabeth to Routes 1 & 9.

As CBS 2’s Christine Sloan reported, the suspect’s vehicle sped right past other cars on the road in the mid-morning chase, which went on for 15 to 20 minutes.

Police squad cars chased the minivan through busy traffic on Routes 1 & 9 near Newark Liberty International Airport. The exclusive video showed the minivan in the northbound lanes before the driver made a U-turn and ended up on the other side of the road.

The driver weaved through cars, barely missing a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey canine unit vehicle, and finally crashed into a Woodbridge police cruiser and a tractor trailer.

The man shooting the video on his cellphone – identified as William V. – could not contain himself as he watched the kind of drama one would normally associate with the highways of Los Angeles.

“New Jersey’s bravest and finest – it’s over, it’s over,” he said as the chase came to an end and the suspect was apprehended.

Hovannes Mihranin and his friend were driving on the roadway in the middle of the chase when police cornered the suspect.

“This was very scary,” Mihranin said.

Mihranin and his friend, Cemil Kahar, were far enough away to remain safe.

“We were on the opposite side and we saw the police, all police, catch him,” Kahar said.

Police had to break the passenger’s side window of the minivan to get the suspect out.

“Collectively, it was great police work,” said Edison police Chief Thomas Bryan.

A suspect, Carmine Mauro, 55, of Edison, was charged with robbery and eluding police. He remained under police guard at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth late Friday, and his bail was set at $250,000, police said.

An Edison police officer also suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from JFK Medical Center in Edison, police said.